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Thursday, October 6, 2011

BBT: Time of the Fairies: Afterlight, End of the World Book Tour

We at Reader Girls are hosting a very special book tour today. Time of the Fairies: Afterlight, End of the World by J. Corsentino is a stunning graphic novel series and the creator is sharing an interview and post with our readers.

Book blurb: Part 1 Time of the Fairies Time of the Faeries: Afterlight is a four-part graphic novel series that explore the origins of the Faeries, the evolution of Angels and Vampires from a common Fae ancestor, and their own unique adaptations to the modern world. It follows the alliances and tensions that develop between these three species as they struggle to protect human civilization or shape it to their will. The Afterlight follows several lines of cause and effect, revealing possible versions of the Apocalypse at the hands of all three species.

In the first book, Afterlight, End of the World, we begin at the end with the Angel Apocalypse: a dying Earth, ravaged by war, now hosts only a few scattered pockets of humanity. These last survivors are being hunted to extinction by starving Angels, their energy consumed so that the Angels might live. Below ground, a small band of shape-shifting male faeries called the Phelans struggle to protect the last collection of human life in Los Angeles and a mysterious young girl who may hold the key to their survival. Above ground, as the winged forces amass to complete their genocide, a lone Angel named Halyon struggles to understand what went wrong, and why her race now hunts the very people they were charged to protect. (Size 98 pages/Genre: Full color fantasy art novel)Interview with J. Corsentino

What is Time of the Faeries? Time of the Faeries is an epic re-imagining of the faerie mythology, bringing gritty reality into fantasy. Currently, it is in the form of several books, and lots and lots of beautiful artwork based on photography and Photoshop.

Time of the Faeries, over the years, has developed into a massive storyline, taking us into a post-apocalyptic future and a not-so-idyllic past.

What is The Afterlight series?The Afterlight Visual Novel Series combines digital art and narrative to create an epic four part tale, delving into the evolution of the new mythology.

What made you write Time of the Faeries: Afterlight?Time of the Faeries grew quickly and spans 10,000 years of the past, present, and the future. As the story matures, I realized that it’s too big to be told in just one art form, one image at a time. Instead, it began to take the form of a novel series grounded in artwork. The Afterlight series is actually only the first series in the entire mythology already planned and drafted.

Where are the faeries? The first book, Afterlight: End of the World, begins with the apocalyptic end, with angels hunting the last humans in existence. There are no faeries mentioned outright in the book! I started the story with this bleak future to show what the world would look like without faeries. Once the faeries arrive, then the fun can commence!

Why did you choose to make the angels the bad guys? Someone had to be the bad guys, and many people will be mad that I chose the angels to be bloodthirsty killers. In the mythology, they represent the dogma of unchanging religion and the narrow mindset of “don’t rock the boat.”

What are your future plans for the series?We are focusing on completing the four-part Afterlight series. The first, Afterlight: End of the World, is published and released. We anticipate that the second in the series, Afterlight: Last Gleaming, will be published Winter 2011.

How do you create your compositions? My artwork is based on a collaboration with the people who model for me. First, we find a person with the “spark” or characteristics that we are looking for. We invite them to do a photoshoot with us, dress them up, then spend a few hours shooting and building a character. Finally, it’s time for me to sit at a computer for hours and days building the magick and background using Photoshop as my artistic tool. It is an intense process for me and the models.

Who are your favorite artists and authors? I am a Sci-Fi movie fan. My heroes are J. Michael Stracynski, Joss Whedon, Ron Moore and Brian Fuller and other film storytellers. Visually, I am still inspired by Luis Royo and Brom, sexy and moody art.

Do you believe in faeries?I do believe in faeries! I believe in the faeries of today, the modern, urban faeries, the people we meet at important juncture in our lives that sets us on a new path, the conversations at 3 a.m. that starts us reflecting, the serene girl out of the corner of our eyes with that something special about her…Yes, yes I do believe in faeries. Come play in my universe and you will too!

Tell us about yourself and what draws you to fantasy. I’ve been a photographer for over ten years now, but got into fantasy photography about eight years ago. With a group of friends, I used to run around Long Island, NY taking photos and having fun. At one particular photoshoot, we shot a dozen faeries, creating individual wings and costumes for everyone. From that single photoshoot, I was inspired to create more fantasy art. Years later, Time of the Faeries evolved.

Me personally, I’m a media geek, more drawn to Science Fiction than fantasy, the more epic, the better. District 9 has really inspired me to take a deeper look at my concept of a street faerie. My walls, shelves, and table tops are lined with Transformers figures and always have. I’m a fan. I guess that’s why I create art, because I enjoy this stuff!

What do you hope people will take away from your mythology? On a trip to Tiajuana, Mexico, I got lost and found myself in the red light district, streets lined with young girls prostituting themselves. Their desolate poses as they stand there, waiting, struck me so deeply that I created the idea of the street faeries, creatures of magick lost in our urban lifestyle. What I hope people will draw from Time of the Faeries is that magick is there in our world, even in the grittiest of places. But at the end of the day, it's about people doing the work, not relying on fantasy or magick. --- It's about people working as people to evolve and create and better themselves and the world around them.

Time of the Faeries: Afterlight is a four part epic urban fantasy graphic novel series, set in a post-apocalyptic future, with Angels duking it out for the fate of Mankind. Given that the word faeries is in the title, this is also a tale about faeries. There is a tremendous sense of feminine power in my graphic novel series.

But what are the boys up to?

Let me introduce you to the Phelans. The Phelans are revealed to be faeries, and shapeshifters to boot. In the ancient past, five faeries separated themselves from the rest of the mystical conflict, and went into seclusion, slowly giving up their nearly unlimited bag of fae tricks in favor of shapeshifting into wolf form and surviving unmolested in the wilds for thousands of years.

In Time of the Faeries: Afterlight, they are dragged out of their hermitage to stand as guardians over a mysterious young girl. Along with their wolf claws and fangs, they picked up human weapons and human bodies and human cynicism in order to survive the end of days, in the hopes that they can hold out long enough to change the future of Mankind.

My inspiration for the Phelans is very obviously the werewolf. The word Phelan itself is Gaelic in origin, meaning “like a wolf”. For fun, I like to pronounce “Phelan” as “felon”. Adds a bit of mischief to the boys.

Come meet the boys in The Afterlight, End of Days, the first part of my graphic novel series.

About the Artist/Author: Joseph Corsentino is a storyteller at heart who chooses photography as his medium. He took his passion for Science Fiction and Fantasy to Los Angeles where he began Time of the Faeries. His stunning, ethereal, and realistic faeries, angels, and vampires can be seen in private collections and magazines all over the world. His first book, published by Imaginosis Publishing, is a prologue into the Time of the Faeries universe. Joseph is currently completing the four-part Afterlight graphic novel series and making appearances at conventions such as Dragon*con.

Some Career Highlights 2007 Time of the Faeries published by Imaginosis Publishing 2007-2011 Artist Guest and Artist Guest of Honor at Faerieworlds Festival 2009-2011 Artist Guest and Artist Guest of Honor at Faeriecon 2008 Artist Guest of Honor at I-Con New York 2008-2009 Artist Guest of Honor at Xanadu Las Vegas 2010 Best Photography Dragon*con Artshow